New Jersey Symphony – Pinchas Zukerman, violin and conductor. January 14, 2017.

Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank.  Balcony Center (Seat E108, $38.)

Program

“Melodie” from Souvenir d’un Lieu Cher, Op. 42 (1878, Orch Glazunov) by Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).

Serenade Melancolique, Op. 26 (1875) by Tchaikovsky.

Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48 (1880) by Tchaikovsky.

Symphony No. 4 in A Major, “Italian,” Op. 90 (1831-33, revised continuously) by Mendelssohn.

When you hear the names Zukerman and Tchaikovsky, you expect to hear some great music, with a heavy dosage of fireworks thrown in for good measure.  Thus I went to this concert with great expectations, and came away somewhat disappointed.

The evening started uneventful enough.  The two violin solos are nice enough, but one wouldn’t use them as virtuoso show pieces.  Indeed, one might be forgiven that these belong in a student recital rather than on a world (or national) stage.  I must, however, concede that the violin’s sound (a Guarnerius) is well-suited for a concert hall the size of Count Basie, and Zukerman managed some rich tones from the instrument.  It doesn’t have the brilliance and sharpness of a Strad, but for these two pieces, that would be unnecessary.

In any case, one could argue the pieces served as a great warmup for the ever-popular Serenade for Strings, a piece I know quite well from my high school days.  For a composition by Tchaikovsky, it is not particularly difficult, yet it contains many hummable tunes, and the constant give-and-take among the parts are delightful.

The performance tonight was in one word: flat.  There were some delightful moments, but I expected many more.  Technically, the orchestra wasn’t as precise as it should be.  It isn’t too much to expect a national orchestra to come in together even though there are changes in tempo.  Some of that blame must be placed at Zukerman’s feet.  He was more anticipatory in his movements, and seemed to expect the musicians to know when to come in after a pause.  I tried to follow along and found it difficult.  Given Zukerman’s experience as a violinist, violist, chamber musician, and a conductor, that was quite inexplicable.  As it was, the piece I most looked forward to listen to was the most disappointing (jumping the gun a little here.)

For the Mendelssohn piece Zukerman conducted in a more traditional manner.  And it was a much better performance.  I was surprised that Zukerman needed the score for the string quartet, and was equally surprised that he conducted this piece without one.

After the performance of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings.

The Symphony is light and refreshing, and the main melody of the second movement – supposed inspired by Mendelssohn observation of a sacred procession in Rome – is very hymn-like.  Overall it was a good performance.

The four movements of the Serenade are (i) Pezzo in forma di sonatina: Andante non troppo - Alegro moderato; (ii) Valse: Moderato - Tempo di valse; (iii) Elegie: Larghetto elegiaco; and (iv) Finale (Tema Russo): Andante - Allegro con spirito.  For the Symphony: (i) Allegro vivace; (ii) Andante con moto; (iii) Con moto moderato; and (iv) Saltarello: Presto.

A few caveats to this entry.  I am writing this after going to two additional concerts, and thus in a rush, and have forgotten some of my observations.  Speaking of which, if I were to drop one of the three recent concerts, this would be it despite my initial excitement about the artist and the composer.

This is part of the Winter Festival series curated by Zukerman.  We have tickets for the second concert this coming Sunday, he will perform Beethoven’s violin concerto.  Due to our travels we will miss the third one with Bach’s second violin concerto on the program.  I sure hope I will have a better report this Sunday.

Thus far the loss of Lacombe seems to have a negative effect on the orchestra.  Let’s hope Zhang will get it back in shape.  Also, the balcony section was quite empty, I am sure that didn't add to morale.

I did find a review at nj.com.  The reviewer attended the previous night’s performance at NJPAC and had a lot of good things to say.  He did say the Mendelssohn performance wasn’t “one for the ages.”